The One That Got Away
by Thesaurusgirl
Summary: Colby goes fishing. And, boy, does he ever catch something


**Disclaimer: I don't own Numbers or Colby or any part of the show. Alas**

**Colby goes fishing, and boy, does he ever catch something.**

Colby G./ Humor

The One That Got Away BY Thesaurusgirl

Colby Granger sighed in contentment as he made another cast into the water. This was his second day fishing at this spot along the river.

"It just doesn't get better than this" he thought. Here he was, standing hip deep in cold running water with nothing and nobody around but sky, trees and silence.

After the cases the team had tackled lately, everybody had needed time off. Coming behind the last one, Colby had decided to make his move.

Timing it just right, he'd caught Don in a good mood and managed to wrangle an entire _week_ to head for one of his favorite fishing spots on the Idaho portion of the Snake River.

He'd tried to talk David into coming along, but the city boy New Yorker had declined, claiming emphatically that he had better things to do with his time, and if he wanted fish, L.A. had innumerable fine seafood restaurants.

Anyway, Colby was alone, having had a pretty good first day, catching two fairly good sized steelhead trout, one of which had been dinner last night.

Feeling a sharp tug on the line, he experimentally reeled in checking for resistance. He got it! The next ten minutes were pretty strenuous, ending in another steelhead dangling out of the water.

"Ha! 3rd one today! Have a feeling I won't be needing much of the food supply I brought with me. Too bad David passed on this." Fresh caught fish, sleeping under the stars and air that was actually breathable was doing wonders for Granger's state of mind, not to mention his sore back.

Having landed the fish, Colby headed back to shore, hip waders making it kind of awkward. Reaching land, he deposited his catch in the cooler brought along for the purpose. Since he was loosing light, he decided to pack it in fishing wise. He removed his waders and headed for his truck. And stopped cold.

Forty or so yards away, between him and the truck, was one of the largest grizzly bears Colby had ever seen, reddish brown coat glinting in the fading light. Thinking about it later, it was a toss up who was more unpleasantly surprised, him or the bear.

Wilderness savvy, Colby had been keeping his food and fish in bear proof containers, Both were in the bed of the truck , but he had the cooler close at hand. That might have been what attracted his furry visitor, but he didn't have time to ponder that right now.

Looking around, Colby saw a good sized pine with low hanging braches about ten feet away.

"Ok," he thought, "just don't do something stupid like trying to outrun it." Bears had been clocked at up to thirty miles an hour. No sense in chancing the animal could get to him before he could get to the only relative safety at hand. Backing towards the tree very slowly, Colby tried to control his breathing. "Crapping your pants is just going to make him mad, Granger" He kept moving until he had covered about five feet. Turning, he sprinted the rest of the way.

Hitting the tree like Sherman hit Atlanta, Colby rather desperately grasped for the lowest, sturdiest branch he could find and pulled himself up. He could hear the bear behind him, running now, huffing and picking up speed.

"Don't look at the bear, stupid, just climb!" Colby berated himself silently. "Please, God" Mama Granger's boy prayed, "Please let it be true that grizzlies don't climb well." He scrambled up the pine, braches tearing and scratching. If he survived this, he would have to send some sort of thank you to the U. S, Army's Ranger school trainers. Climbing fast under pressure had been learned from them.

Gaining as much altitude as he could, Colby held on, listening to the bear, who he decided to call BooBoo, attempting to follow. After several futile tries, it gave up and began to circle the tree, apparently intent on waiting for the human to come down.

"Keep waiting" Colby told him. "I just decided pine is my favorite tree in the entire world. Hugging the tree with enthusiasm, he wondered just how long it would be his home.

It turned into quite a wait. One hour passed, then another. Just as Colby was concluding he would be spending the night a lot closer to nature than he'd been planning on, Booboo gave one last exasperated huff and head toss and turned to leave. Granger could see the huge furry creature lumbering off into the forest, after first taking a snack break at Colby's fish cooler.

He gave it another hour just to be safe and then slowly, painfully climbed down. Looking around carefully to make sure he was alone, Colby ran to the waters edge, grabbed his reel and waders and leapt into the truck, key already in the ignition. Since BooBoo could rip the door off his truck and peel him out like a banana, he thought it wise to put some forty miles between him and his current location.

The next day, he resumed his fishing vacation in what turned out to be a better spot. He managed to recover his losses in one day. Of course, he was now sans tent and bedroll, so he had to sleep in the truck, but that was probably a good idea anyway. And city dwellers thought back country was boring!

The next Monday, he strolled into the office, relaxed and ready to take on the next case.

"So" David began, "If you think you can do it without putting me to sleep, how was the fishing trip?"

"Believe it or not," Colby told him, "I met this fiery redhead…."

THE END


End file.
